One Hundred Almond Curry

To celebrate the first day of the last week of classes, last night I led a team of intrepid Children's Lit scholars through a three hour cooking obstacle course. The reward was the best homemade Indian food I've ever had. I got the recipe from The Traveler's Lunchbox, and she got it from Niloufer Ichaporia King's cookbook. When I read Melissa's post and realized that I had almost all of the ingredients in my kitchen (chicken thighs on the bone, coriander seeds, almonds, coconut milk, black peppercorn) and had never tried to make a masala before… I knew it was time. (I'd say it was love at first bite if I didn't realize how ridiculously corny that sounds.)

My feet ache from standing around on the linoleum in my socks for the entire length of "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" (our marathon cooking background movie). When I exhale, my mouth waters from the rich explosion of spices still lingering in my breath. Imagine the sweet milky scent of almonds commingling with the toasted sting of red chili peppers and sharp, warm cinnamon. Right about now I wish that blogs had smell-o-vision.

(For recipe and a thorough investigation of Parsi cuisine, see original The Traveler's Lunchbox post. Sorry guys, this one is not dining hall-shopping friendly.)

Enjoy!